Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Last week my sister commented that I was slacking and not posting much on Facebook or this blog. Keep in mind she said this while sitting across her living room from me! I spent a week across the state hanging out with my kids, grandkids and finally my sister as she recuperated from foot surgery. I didn't do much posting but I was busy!

I got back home on Saturday and since then I have been busy finishing the data entry so our business taxes can be taken care of. I am officially done as of about 3 this afternoon! Now I can get back to sewing, crocheting and other important work!

The first projects that need to be finished are the frog quilts. I have 3 quilted and the bindings done and I will probably quilt the 4th one tomorrow and get that binding done. This evening at craft night my plan was to work on making the yo-yo eyes for the quilts. I found some white with black polka dot fabric that I thought would be perfect but now I am not so sure. What do you think?

Do you like the white with black polka dot or does that gold frog look a little crazed? I am not a huge fan of the solid black though either. Any thoughts? I don't want to make 160 yo-yos only to decide I don't like them and need to come up with something else!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Last Saturday I received a call from the quilt guild president. She said she missed me at the last meeting - I wasn't able to make it because we were looking at houses with my niece who wants to buy her first home. She also asked if I would be interested in being the next guild president as she thought I would do a good job. I was a little flabbergasted, to say the least, as I am a pretty new member and haven't really been that involved. I briefly considered but declined explaining that I didn't think it was fair to take on a commitment like that when I so often miss the meetings because of church or family obligations which will always come first. It was very flattering to be asked and if I thought I could be at every meeting I would consider it. I think it would be fun and rewarding.

In case you didn't hear, we have had a nasty patch of weather here in the Pacific Northwest. At our house we got about 6 inches of snow but luckily our power only flickered a couple of times. Others have not been so lucky with snow totals ranging from 4" to close to 2 feet! The snow in many areas was followed by rain which froze when it landed causing an ice layer. This caused trees to fall which knocked out power all over the area. The temperatures have risen and the rains have come (along with some wind which has resulted in more power issues) and the snow is slowly melting which will bring the new issue of flooding! Just can't win for losing as my dad would say.

I chose to just stay in the house all week which resulted in the completion of those two owl hats but also meant they did not get in the mail or delivered! That should happen this week. I also got orders for 5 more hats so I have started working on those.

Taking advantage of the time indoors, I finally got to work on getting all the business information into the computer so we can get our taxes taken care of. As of last night I have finished through July - not bad for one week of work! Why do I always leave it to January to get busy with this?

Yesterday I went into the sewing room and got the third frog quilt quilted and got bindings on #2 and #3. I am feeling like I might actually finish these!

I am heading out tomorrow to visit family across the state so I will bring the quilts and hats and their respective supplies with me to work on while visiting.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Well, those 6 kids hats turned into a total of 8 hats for one person! And I got another order for a hat so I need to get two hats finished so I can work on other things. One will be dark brown and the other will be black with lime green eyes.

Meanwhile, I got the binding onto the first frog quilt and did the machine quilting on the second one. When I get the two frog hats done I will get to work on the hand-sewing of the bindings and the yo-yo eyes.

I also need to add in getting the business books ready for our accountant so we can get the taxes done. As you can see I have a lot on my plate right now so I guess I should get off the computer and get busy!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

I have been busy crocheting! These are the latest owl hats that I finished up in the last couple of days. I have orders for 6 kids hats for one person and an adult hat for another person. I also need to get several done for sale at the quilt show in March. Luckily, they are very simple and can easily be worked on while watching TV or riding in a car. In fact, on Sunday I worked on a couple while riding in a bus down to Portland, OR to watch the Trailblazers play the Cleveland Cavaliers. I am not much of a sports fan but the grandson of some friends of mine is a Cleveland Cavalier so we had a busload of folks that went down to watch him play. There were about 70 us amidst all the Blazer fans rooting for the Cavaliers. A little intimidating to say the least. It was fun to watch him play and even more fun to watch the proud grandparents!

Last week I got 4 of the frog quilts basted and yesterday I did the main quilting on one of them. So far I have stitched in the ditch around each frog. Not sure if I will do more by machine or if I will just add some 'fly' ties along with the eyes. Today I hope to get the binding on the first one so I can take it to quilt guild tonight to do the hand-sewing. I might even get the second one quilted.

We had our kick-off meeting for Relay for Life on Monday which means it is time to get going with the fund-raising. One of our team's main fund-raisers is the quilt show which will be March 10. That means I have got to get busy with the drawing quilt! Because the theme this year is "The Magic of Relay" I plan to do a Harry Potter themed quilt. We will see how that goes! By the way, if you are interested in helping me with my fund-raising you can go here or buy an owl hat from me - I am selling them for $10 and all of the money goes to Relay for Life to fight cancer!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

This was the view out our living room windows on New Year's Day! Love seeing Mt Rainier anytime but greeting me on New Year's Day, that is amazing!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season and that you have all recovered from said holidays! Today is our first day back in the usual routine and I really didn't want to hear that alarm!

I looked back at my projects for 2011 and discovered that I finished:

26 lap size or larger quilts

7 baby quilt or smaller quilts

10 blocks for the quilt block exchange

20+ stemware coasters

Many owl hats

Many mittens

1 liturgical stole

1 tote

1 shower curtain

10 Christmas minis

7 flimsies

I also quilted three quilts for other quilters.

Not a bad year though I think I should have done better. There were just too many other things going on!

I wanted to share my birthday present from my sister. Instead of sending it she gave it to me when we saw each other after Christmas. Not sure what you would call it, maybe a mini design wall? It is flannel on the inside so you can lay out the pieces for a block

and then you can roll it up for later or to transfer it to your sewing machine. It is pretty cool!

This is the big item we brought back from our daughter's house:

She found it at the surplus sale at the university for us (we paid, but we couldn't be there the day of the sale). It is an old card catalog cabinet. It is in pretty good shape considering its age and the amount of use it got over the years! I spent a good bit of time trying to get all the floor wax off the stand (most of it is gone) and polishing up the rest. My plan is to use it to store most of the stuff that has been piled in and on my roll-top desk which I never use as a desk (even if it is cleaned off). Once it is cleaned off and my niece has a place for the desk, we will give it to her. It is one of the first roll-top desks made by her father around 30 years ago.

The new year started out with a splash for me. In a weak moment, I said I would do the Polar Bear Jump with some folks from church. This involves jumping from a bridge into the chilly waters of Puget Sound. So when noon rolled around, I was standing with hundreds of others waiting my turn to jump! And jump I did! That cold water is quite a shock to the system - I was instantly exhausted and not sure about the short swim to shore. I made it and got my certificate to prove I made the plunge. The funny thing is I am actually thinking about doing it again next year!

Yesterday, I spent a little time in the sewing room. First I tidied up the sewing table putting all scraps away from the Christmas minis and then I got borders on two of the froggie quilts. I hope to get borders on at least two more today so I can get started on the quilting and binding. Then I will have all the yo-yo eyes to make and attach. Once those are finished I can get the baby girl quilt made and move on to my Relay for Life drawing quilt.